Spanish unemployment falls slightly

The number of people registered as unemployed in Spain edged down by a little under 5,000 in March, the first reduction for the month in five years, official figures revealed today.

The Labour Ministry said the decline showed that the government’s policies are working. The scale of the task remains huge though as the number registered as unemployed stands at 5.04 million.

Spain is battling to emerge from its second recession in just over three years.

Among its problems, the Spanish economy is trying to recover from the collapse of the once-booming property sector, which has partly contributed to an unemployment rate of around 26%.